I remember there was a time when I would laugh bitterly in the faces of fools who spent ridiculous amounts of money on designer clothing. It's all very well going into hundreds for quality...but...thousands? Really? "That white blazer you bought for £2000? Yeah, well I bought one almost identical for £25 in a sale. Put that in your juice box and suck on it." What irritated me the most was that all that money, if donated to charity, would go a long way. It could feed a family in a poverty stricken country for at least a year. Is an item of clothing really worth someone else's life? And then I thought...well shouldn't the whole 'ridiculous waste of money' concept apply to concert tickets? Exhibit A: Glastonbury Festival, UK
£1 Baby to see T Rex? Yes please....
See, the fact is, there are some people in the world that will pay any amount of money to see their favourite band/ musician. But what about the people who would pay any amount of money to see the band BUT JUST DON'T HAVE THE MONEY? I went to see Paul McCartney last year in the o2 arena...I paid £45, but Macca's team were so sweet they had these guys (good-looking guys I might add) go around giving tickets to the front row that were originally hundreds. And...yours truly was one of the lucky people to get free front row tickets! It was a once in a life time experience but then I thought... Hang on.. What about the people who had actually decide to spend hundreds on tickets?
What had made me want to bring up this particular subject is the Rolling Stones' high prices for their concert in London. The cheapest ticket is £106. If you want Mick and Keith to be anything more than spindly stick figures in the distance, prices go to £406.
And a VIP hospitality ticket, which guarantees a place inside the terrifyingly-named "tongue pit" at the edge of the stage, is £1,140.
Yeah.
I understand why The Rolling Stones have put the prices so high. They're up there with the other "gods" of classic rock, like Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Pink Floyd. They're probably thinking, "Hey, it won't be long till we're in wheelchairs so we might as well milk those rich pigs who always wanted to see us as teenagers but never got the chance."
What's sad though is the high prices mean that the arena will probably be full of wealthy older men and the occasional spoilt kid whose parents have decided to indulge them. For the younger generation, The Rolling Stones will not be as accessible.
And then...back to the point earlier. Isn't spending £1,140 for a VIP ticket as self-indulgent and pointless as spending silly amounts on clothing, or a hotel room?
And to you: how much would you happily spend on a concert ticket?
( A small forenote: I apologise for not writing for ages. Yes, I only have twelve followers, but a lot of them are lovely people who are dedicated enough to actually read my silly ramblings. So, I'm sorry, I've been very busy lately and I simply haven't had the time. Even now I'm typing this secretly, I'm supposed to be doing homework, and planning a surprise birthday for my friend. But, I think I can spare an hour or so to type all this up :D)
All of today I've been pondering to myself what on earth I should write...
I've missed Neil Young's birthday, like the silly creature I am. I found myself searching my Dad's newspaper for inspiration.
But then I thought...
Well...
I THINK KEITH RICHARDS HAS STILL GOT IT.
Why not? He's releasing a new biography, let's start talking about the wonderful man. Yes Jagger is great, but what would The Rolling Stones be without Richards? He's the 'roll' in the rolling stones. He's the riff in their chart topping songs. If you don't understand his awesomeness, watch this:
(Yes, I have finally figured out how to upload videos onto blogger. Do not laugh! We all have to start somewhere... this is only my eleventh post...)
SHARP REFLEXES! Possessed fan runs on stage, like a rock n roll ninja Richards uses his special skills to defend himself. For all of you party poopers out there who say, "But...isn't that mean?"
Well, this was only a year after Lennon had been shot by a fan, so of course all people in the world of rock would be on their guard.And trust Richards to do it in style! Whack whack, whack them on the head with his guitar. And then coolly continue playing.
And I love how Mick Jagger just ignores it all and continues singing. Although, if there was any serious trouble, I'm sure he would have leaped to the rescue.Richards and Jagger's friendship is a strong one, one that has lasted about 50 years. They were both there when the Rolling Stones first formed, and they're still there now, unlike a lot of their other band members.
Chart to show The Rolling Stones' band members
I took this from an interview with Rolling Stone magazine(not the band, it confuses me too, don't worry) in 1981
You and Mick appear to have one of the great friendships of our era. Is it really as solid as it seems? Yeah. It's a true friendship when you can bash somebody over the head and not be told, "You're not my friend anymore." That's a true friendship. You put up with each other's bitching. People will think we're having these huge arguments and say, "Oh, will they split up?" But it's our way of working, you know? He's my wife. And he'll say the same thing about me: "Yeah, he's my wife." http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/51942/220525?RS_show_page=1
It's perfectly fine with me if they want to get married someday. I hope I somehow find a way to go to their wedding. I'll gatecrash it.
ANYWAY, STOP TRYING TO DISTRACT ME, I NEED TO GET ON TO THE MAIN TOPIC! Yes. His book.
Ok, I have not actually read the book. I haven't had the time (PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!) and I have about three books to read for school, and tests coming up. But I've done some research and I've found a very good review from the Indepent. So here's some of what they've written:
That he's here at all to tell the story is a miracle. Back in the 1970s, New Musical Express used to run an annual Top 10 list of the rock stars least likely to see the following year due to their fondness for various substances. Top of the list year after year was Keith Richards.
"That was the only chart on which I was Number One for 10 years in a row," he writes in his book. "I was kind of proud of that position. I was really disappointed when I went down (to second on the list)."
Those were the days, as Mary Hopkin used to say. His intake was on an industrial scale and the behaviour that went with it created his global image as the ultimate rock 'n roll wild man. But what the book reveals is that this was always less than half the story. The real Keith Richards has been obscured for years behind that image.
He may look like an urban pirate (Johnny Depp robbed the look for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies) with the flamboyant clothes, mad hair, crazed eyes, skin like an alligator and speech permanently slurred by decades of drink and drugs. But the real Keef is -- and always has been -- a serious, and supremely gifted, musician.
All the rest of the stuff happened, of course, and it's all part of him now. But what always mattered, above anything else, was the music. His book, possibly the most honest rock 'n roll autobiography ever written, goes through all the drug binges and busts, the groupies, Altamont and everything else in detail. But although he hides nothing -- and doesn't apologise for anything either -- it's all very much an aside to the main business, which is the music.
Yes. I copied and pasted. Screw me. But I did the good thing here, I could have copied and pasted it and pretended I wrote it, and that I had actually read the book (I was actually going to do that to be frank). But no. I was honest. So I think I deserve a round of applause, thank you very much.
But it's a great book, from what I've heard. I'm going to read it as soon as I've got the time, so I think you should too.
Au revoir mes amies :D
